The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it.

Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.

Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning.

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.

The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehood and errors.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

He is happiest of whom the world says least, good or bad.

What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?

Unmerited abuse wounds, while unmerited praise has not the power to heal.